


The Lightning Assassin

by SlytherclawHomunculus



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Real World, Assassins, Gen, Lightning Generation, One-Shot, Very Mild Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-06 03:17:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21219680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlytherclawHomunculus/pseuds/SlytherclawHomunculus
Summary: What if someone gained the ability to firebend irl? In this fic I explore the idea of a random girl who gains firebending and later lightning generation, the consequences, and her ultimate decision to become an assassin.





	The Lightning Assassin

**Author's Note:**

> Repost from tumblr~

She carefully opened the door and surveyed the empty room. Assured that no one else was around, she gently closed the door behind her. Taking a few deep breaths, she stepped towards the window and slid it open. There was a clear line towards her target. Perfect. She took a few steps back from the window and placed a small altar on the ground. She placed candles in each of the altar’s slots and pinched the wicks, igniting them with her firebending. She focused on the flames, taking steady and deep breaths to meditate. She would need to clear her mind for the task ahead.

To channel one’s energy into lightning required a clear mind, the chi in her body would need to be able to flow uninhibited. Lest the results be… less than favorable. While it was true that fire wasn’t the most forgiving element, the punishment it doled out to those whom did not offer their utmost respect to it was a slap on the wrist compared to those who mishandled lightning. Fire may burn you, or damage your things, but lightning will kill without hesitation. One misstep, and it’s all over for you.

And of course, the other reason the young firebender needed to clear her mind was because she was about to take the life of another.

Ever since she had first found herself blessed(or cursed perhaps?) with the inner fire, she had found her life turned upside-down. It sparked suddenly and with seemingly no provocation, then grew to full strength alarmingly quickly. Of course being an avid Avatar fan, she picked up right away on what was happening to her. She could only be thankful for her already existing knowledge of the show and it’s lore, as it did offer her some ways to practice control of the fire. Knowing that fire comes from the breath was practically a life-saver. She ended up spending many hours online, researching and practicing many varieties of meditative breath techniques. Making sure to take special note of the ones that resulted in her breathing fire. Especially since the first time it happened, she burned her throat. That one was tough to explain to the doctor… She also found that curiously, some caused her body to warm a few degrees. But of course, despite starting her self-imposed training regimen immediately, there were accidents. She ended up singeing more things that she would care to admit to, and even burned herself far to many times to not be considered suspicious. Thankfully, they were no worse than nasty sunburns and could have been passed off as such if it weren’t for the fact that they caused her to gain the faint aroma of burned flesh.

She pulled her mask from her bag and stared into it’s hollow eye holes. The disguise associated with the Lightning Assassin, had originally just been her disguise for when she went out to practice her firebending. She slipped it on and resumed meditating. Firebending was not normal. Hell, bending in general was not normal. Avatar was a fantasy cartoon for children, by all means, she shouldn’t have been able to firebend at all. But she could. She didn’t know why or how, but something had kindled a fire within her, and she couldn’t just ignore it. There was fire inside of her, burning somewhere in her soul. She could feel it, even if she couldn’t touch it.

The firebending moves she saw in the show were a nice start for trying to figure out how to use the fire, but she also found that it helped that it was based on actual martial arts. As in an actual form of fighting with lessons she could take for real, so long as she could hold the fire inside. She ended up doing most of her practice alone, in an abandoned old building in a bad part of town. As much as she wanted the lessons, they were too much money, and she was concerned that she would start firebending for everyone to see. She could already see where that was going to go, being thrown into a too small room lit only by blinding artificial lights, and forced to burn through various substances until her chi energy inevitably ran dry.

No thanks.

She wished she could have someone to guide her though. But there were no firebending masters, as she was the only one. Not the last one, but the first it seemed. What she wouldn’t have gave to have Iroh, Zuko, or even Jeong Jeong to watch over her and help her better her techniques, correct her mistakes. But there was no one. And eventually with no one to offer input on her bending, she grew bored of using fire on the same scorched concrete slabs and walls. Eventually, she decided to try lightning.

While she couldn’t deny that the choice to go to lightning before she could fully trust that she had mastered fire was a rather rash one. However, she was extra careful in her preparations before even charging up a single bolt. She had started a ritual, set up a small altar with lavender scented candles and meditated to clear her mind. Out of all the breathing techniques she tested when learning to control the fire, she found that regular deep breathing worked the best. And it made her much calmer to boot. Her first taste of lightning was exhilarating, but also terrifying. At first she was excited, seeing the smoldering remains of the straw dummy she had set up, but it quickly dawned on her that the dummy could have very easily been her. She didn’t bend at all for the rest of that week.

The first time she had used bending on a human, she had been walking back home after bending practice. She had meant to come home before the sun set, but she had been practicing her lightning bending again and she desperately wanted to master it. After all, the better she was at it, the less likely the instance that she would be the smoldering crater. She wanted to think that she had simply lost track of time, but her inner fire was constantly tracking the sun in the sky, so while she couldn’t tell the exact time, she knew full and well that it was getting dark. Either way, she missed the last bus and would have to walk all the way back home, in the dark, in a bad neighborhood. She had hoped that the dark red robes and red Japanese dragon mask would be enough to deter criminals. It wasn’t. Someone lurched out from the darkness and grabbed her from behind, he had a knife, she could feel it poking her side. He was whispering terrible things into her ear, things that bare not repeating. She was nearly frozen, afraid of the thought of becoming another statistic or Jane Doe for online investigation hobbyists to dig their digital fingers into. She felt her inner fire rise to be at the ready, unwilling to let it’s host be snuffed out. Her body lurched forward, ripping itself from the man’s grasp and flipping around in a single, graceful motion. The man cursed and charged, knife ready. Her mind went from full of every firebending move she knew to completely clear in a fraction of a second. Before she could even begin to contemplate the consequences, her body was in motion. Tracing a path from her fingertips, down her arm, to the shoulder, away from the heart and lungs, into the fire chakra, back up to the shoulder, through the other arm, and out the fingertips. In a blinding flash and thunderous roar, the encounter was over. It was only when the stench of burnt flesh hit her nostrils that she finally came out of autopilot. Smoke trailed from her fingertips, but she was completely unharmed. The man however, was stone cold dead. His knife melted to his hand and a his eyes staring out into nothingness. Her heart raced, it took everything in her not to vomit. She raced home with no other incidents.

She considered quitting bending after that. She would hold her flame in her hands one last time though. While she had wanted to quit, the gentle heartbeat of the fire in her hands gave her a much needed reminder. Fire is energy and life. So she got an idea, she already had a disguise, so why not use her fire to help better the world. She would use lightningbending to assassinate people. Not criminals though, most people in prison or jail end up there due to unfortunate circumstances. No, she would go after the bigwigs and corporate fatcats. The fuckers who think they’re invincible and that they can ruin as many lives as they wish with no consequences. It was the perfect crime, the coroner’s reports all said the same thing, killed by lightning strikes. Lightning that mysteriously burrowed it’s way through the vital organs and life points, but lightning nonetheless.

The people considered it an act of God.

She didn’t consider herself nearly that high though. She was simply a humble firebender sowing the seeds she thought needed to be sewn. But also because, she did accept money for requested targets. People left offerings of envelopes with thousands in cash, and a photograph with a name. She’d take the ones that she agreed to kill, and decided to use the money to start martial arts lessons, and as generous anonymous donations to the local animal shelter.

Mind clear, she took a deep breath and exhaled. The candles extinguished themselves. She rose from her seated position and went to the window, she had a clear shot of her target. She paired her index and middle fingers together and traced down from her fingertips to her elbow, then shoulder, a thunderous surge of power followed her finger tips through the fire chakra in her stomach, and electricity crackled around her, the tremendous power skyrocketing and coalescing as it was guided back to her shoulder, to her elbow, down her arm, and finally to her fingertips. Charged and ready, she pointed at her target, a bolt of pure lightning charging forward striking the target dead in a blinding flash of light. Soon to be followed by the deafening clap of thunder as she packed up her meditation altar and made a clean get away.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a tumblr where I post AU ideas and art- https://carnistcervine.tumblr.com/


End file.
